Smith Machine Incline Bench Press
Trains the Clavicular Head.
- Equipment
- A machine and an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner


How to do it
- Set an incline bench to about thirty degrees under the Smith machine.
- Position it so the bar lands over your upper chest, just below the collarbones.
- Set the safety catches below that point.
- Lie back, take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders, and set your shoulder blades down against the pad.
- Unhook the bar, lower it to the upper chest under control, then press back to almost straight arms.
- Re-hook the bar at the top before letting go.
Common mistakes
- Setting the bench steeper than about forty-five degrees. Past that the movement becomes a shoulder press, and the upper chest — the reason for the incline — gets less rather than more.
- Positioning the bench so the bar meets the middle of the chest. On an incline the bar belongs high; a fixed line that lands low forces the shoulders forward to meet it.
- Pressing the bar toward the face. The fixed path removes that choice, which is exactly why the bench placement has to be right before you lie down.
- Arching hard off the pad to turn it back into a flat press. If a flat press is what you want, the flat bench is two feet away.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Clavicular HeadPecs